Child sponsorship charity Compassion has told its supporters its work in India is on the point of collapse. The charity announced the news in an email to its 130,000 sponsors of Indian children last Friday, as Christianity Today reports.
Compassion has worked in India for the past 48 years, it has 580 staff working across the country, supporting 145,000 children. The charity sends approximately $50 million a year in humanitarian aid to its Indian partners.
However, in 2011 India changed its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) so that it could regulate NGOs receiving contributions from abroad. Despite concerted efforts by the charity and high-level representations by the US government, it can no longer receive funds from outside the sub-continent, and so its operations will have to cease.
"Since we can no longer distribute funds to our field offices, we have just had to notify our India country staff that we must formally close our field offices in India by March 15," the email said.
"Should nothing change, that means an end to our sponsorship program in India in the next 60 days."
While the change in regulations is promoted as a way of controlling corruption and money-laundering, campaigners believe the restrictions on Compassion and other Christian charities are part of a move against them inspired by the Hindu nationalist movement that has become dominant particularly since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
Compassion's lead attorney Stephen Oakley previously told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee: "What we're experiencing is an unprecedented, highly coordinated, deliberate and systematic attack intended to drive us out."
Open Doors now rank India at number 15 on a list of places where it is hardest to be a Christian. "Of the 64 million Christians in India, approximately 39 million experience direct persecution," they said.
An official statement by Compassion on its tatus in India has not yet been given.
There may be some hope for the children that the charity can no longer serve. Compassion spokesperson Becca Bishop said: "[The children] may have lost Compassion's support, but they haven't lost the support of their local church.
"Those churches, if they have the funds, may still be able to carry out a lot of the services."
